The Night of the Barking Dog: A Journalist’s Memory of the Disappearance of Regina Brown in the Wake of the Woodchipper Murder

Former Newtown Bee crime reporter Lisa Peterson recounts her investigative reporting about the disappearance of two Newtown flight attendants in the late 1980s. Each woman was a mother with three young children, married to a commercial airline pilot, in the midst of a divorce.  

Helle Crafts, an attractive 39-year-old white woman, disappeared on November 19, 1986. Regina Brown, a pretty 36-year-old Black woman, disappeared four months later, on March 26, 1987. Helle’s husband, Richard Crafts, was convicted of her murder in the infamous woodchipper murder case. But whatever happened to Regina Brown?  Discover how race and the media interacted with the parallel police investigations and why one case got all the attention while the other languished for nearly two decades until Peterson started her investigation seeking justice for Regina Brown. A Q&A period will follow Lisa's presentation.